Head maintains that far from empowering, the net result of the implementation of the principles of industrialization to skilled (knowledge work, whether at the high income profession positions such as the physician or with the skilled work of lower-inome workers such as call center agents)is what he calls "skill debilitation."

His message is clear, especially when Head speaks out against all encompasing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems: work is becoming more onerous and closely controlled.

This book is descriptive and doesn't cover what regular readers of this site will know is our premise -- that he design of viable systems through the use of sound managerial cybernetics foundations should not be compromised... something that appears not to be the case in the sites that Head has reviewed in his studies. 

The book is evidence of why systems design must not be left to the single focus of low variety re-engineering efforts.

My ranking: * * *

" ... here is the word of mouth sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world.  This book is about luck: more precisely, aobut how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences.  Set against the backdrop of the most conspicuous forum in which luck is mistaken for skill -- the markets -- Fooled by Randomness is an irreverent, iconoclastic, eye-opening and endlessly entertaining multidisciplinary exploration of one of the least understood forces in all of our lives."

The author maintains that we undrestimate the share of randomness in just about everything and that "... the Tragic Vision of humankind that believes in the existence of inherent limitations and flaws in the way we think and act requires an acknowledgement of this fact as a basis for any individual and collective action."  ... "Needless to say that the ideas of this book fall squarely into the Tragic category: We are faulty and there is no need to bother trying to correct our flaws.  We are so defective and so mismatched to our environment that we can just work around these flaws."

Methods to work around these flaws are, of course, the themes of the Cybernetic and CEP streams in this web site... You'll find that this book is an excellent starting point to understand the magnitude of task that faces us... and the ultimate reminder that in many cases the false belief in determinism (often brought on by artificial reduction of the dimensionality of things) can be the beginning of the road to ruin for as Taleb so succinctly states in the prologue: "As much as you believe in the 'keep-it-simple-stupid' it is the simplification that is dangerous."

My ranking: * * * * * 
originally Posted to cep.weblogger.com by David Soul on 10/15/05; 8:56:58 PM in the Errors section. permalink#

By Raul Espejo, Werner Schuuhmann, Markus Schwaninger & Ulbaldo Bilello (Wiley 1996) this book is both theoretical and practical... a rare feat that is carried off extermely well by these authors .

Back Cover Copy
Todays managers are increasingly busy and less inclined than ever to cope with difficult theoretical propositions. For this very reason, the managers to whom this book will appear daunting are the ones who have most to gain. This book aims to make their own jobs, and the organizations they work for, more satisfying and humane. There are no apologies for this circular argument. The theory upon which this book is based is a theory on managing complexity — those who make the effort to study it are likely to have a useful and valuable learning experience. Organizational Transformation and Learning is more than theory in isolation. The ideas have been worked out in practice to approach five fundamental issues:

• How can organizations cope with increasing environmental complexity?
• How can they maintain viability and develop further at the same time?
• How can organizational action become more effective?
• How can managers cope with increasing organizational complexity?
• How can their action become more effective?

Given that complexity is the core issue for organizations to deal with in the future, Organizational Transformation and Learning shows in theory and practice how organizational and managerial cybernetics can contribute to dealing with this core issue. It provides a framework to relate and organize the myriad activities common to contemporary business. The book will change the readers appreciation of their role in the organization and make each action more effective.

In plain terms, the authors believe that organizational transformation begins with individual transformation, and intend that this book will encourage that individual transformation.